Topic - Geography and History

Activity 1

Who are pirates?

What did they do?

What jobs did they have?

What is on a pirate ship?

Lots of questions!  Get ready year 2, dectective goggles on and let's find out by looking at the information below. 

What job would you pick and why?

Activity 2

Discover famous pirates that once lived. Find out about these pirates from the sources below.

Women pirates

Remember, females were also pirates.

Activity 3

Thousands of pirates were active from 1650–1720. 

These years are sometimes known as a 'Golden Age' of piracy.

Famous pirates from this period include Blackbeard (Edward Teach), Henry Morgan, William 'Captain' Kidd, 'Calico' Jack Rackham and Bartholomew Roberts.

Where did pirates come from? Although more British pirates were born in London than other seaports, there is no doubt that the most famous pirates were born elsewhere:

• Henry Morgan, Bartholomew Roberts and Howell Davis were Welsh

• Captain Kidd and John Gow were born in Scotland

• Avery was from Plymouth

• Blackbeard was from Bristol.

What sort of things did pirates seize?

The most precious prizes were chests of gold, silver and jewels. Coins were especially popular because pirate crews could share them out easily. Emeralds and pearls were the commonest gems from America, providing rich plunder.

However, pirates did not only seize precious cargoes like these. They also wanted things they could use, such as food, barrels of wine and brandy, sails, anchors and other spare equipment for their ships.

Things as simple as flour and medicine were treasured steals. Often pirates were just trying to find the necessities of life.

How did pirates attack other ships?

Pirate ships usually carried far more crew than ordinary ships of a similar size. This meant they could easily out number their victims.

Pirates altered their ships so that they could carry far more cannon than merchant ships of the same size.

Stories about pirate brutality meant that many of the most famous pirates had a terrifying reputation, and they advertised this by flying various gruesome flags including the 'Jolly Roger' with its picture of skull and crossbones.

All these things together meant that victims often surrendered very quickly. Sometimes there was no fighting at all. It's likely that most victims of pirates were just thrown overboard rather than being made to ‘walk the plank’.

Activity 4

This week we will be looking at continents. You can find a fun song about the continents below. 

Activity 5

We are going to continue to look at our wonderful planet.

Lets have a look at the 5 oceans on planet earth. Take notes about each ocean.

You can watch a fun song about the oceans by clicking on the link below.